Giant Labour

The New Waterway in 150 Years of Photography is an outdoor exhibition in Hoek van Holland presented along the Koningin Emmaboulevard. The exhibition consists of forty life size photographs that together trace the development of the landscape around the New Waterway over a period of 150 years. This includes the excavation of the waterway through the dunes, as well as later interventions such as the construction of the Botlek, Europoort and Maasvlakte.

Curated by Joop de Jong, the exhibition marks the 150th anniversary of the New Waterway. Completed in 1872, the waterway laid the foundation for the growth of the Port of Rotterdam. In Hoek van Holland in particular, where sea, port and landscape meet, that history takes on a very immediate meaning.

The exhibition includes work by eighteen photographers and is conceived as a walk through the outdoor space. As a result, it becomes not only a historical reflection, but also a way of reading the area itself anew: dune, village, infrastructure and port appear as one human shaped landscape.

28 April – 16 October 2022